Vertical memory blocks and related devices and methods

ABSTRACT

Vertical memory blocks for semiconductor devices include a memory cell region including an array of memory cell pillars and at least one via region including a dielectric stack of alternating dielectric materials and at least one conductive via extending through the dielectric stack. Semiconductor devices including a vertical memory block include at least one vertical memory block, which includes slots extending between adjacent memory cells of a three-dimensional array. The slots are separated by a first distance in a first portion of the block, and by a second, greater distance in a second portion of the block. Methods of forming vertical memory blocks include forming slots separated by a first distance in a memory array region and by a second, greater distance in a via region. At least one conductive via is formed through a stack of alternating first and second dielectric materials in the via region.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to semiconductor devicesincluding vertical memory block constructions that include slots forforming conductive elements within the vertical memory block.Embodiments of the present disclosure also relate to vertical memoryblocks that include conductive through-array vias.

BACKGROUND

A continuing goal of the semiconductor industry has been to increase thememory density (e.g., the number of memory cells per memory die) ofmemory devices, such as non-volatile memory devices (e.g., NAND Flashmemory devices). One way of increasing memory density in non-volatilememory devices is to utilize vertical memory array (also referred to asa “three-dimensional (3D) memory array”) architectures. A conventionalvertical memory array includes semiconductor pillars extending throughopenings in tiers of conductive structures (e.g., word line plates,control gate plates, access lines, word lines) and dielectric materialsat each junction of the semiconductor pillars and the conductivestructures. Such a configuration permits a greater number of transistorsto be located in a unit of die area by building the array upwards (e.g.,vertically) on a die, as compared to structures with conventional planar(e.g., two-dimensional) arrangements of transistors.

Conventional vertical memory arrays include tiers of conductivestructures (e.g., access lines, word lines) separated by dielectricmaterials. One such vertical memory array is a so-called “MONOS” typememory array, which stands for metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor,referring to the materials forming each individual memory cell.Conventional MONOS type memory arrays may be formed by forming thesemiconductor pillars through a stack of alternating first and seconddielectric materials, forming slots through the stack adjacent to thesemiconductor pillars, removing the second dielectric materials throughthe slots, and replacing the second dielectric materials with aconductive material to form word line plates. During such a process, allor substantially all of the second dielectric material is replaced bythe conductive material, such that a body of the vertical memory arrayincludes alternating layers of the first dielectric material and theconductive word line plates.

Some conventional vertical memory arrays include so-called“through-array vias,” which are conductive vias that extend through thevertical memory array to a sub-array feature. Through-array viaspotentially reduce an area that the vertical memory array and associatedcircuitry covers on a semiconductor device, compared to vias or othercontacts that are formed outside of an area of the vertical memoryarray. However, the formation of the through-array vias requiresadditional processing acts and cost. For example, to conventionally formsuch through-array vias that are electrically isolated from theconductive word line materials, a portion of the alternating layers ofthe first dielectric material and the conductive word line material isremoved and replaced with a dielectric material, through which thethrough-array vias are formed.

It would, therefore, be desirable to develop improved structures andmethods of forming vertical memory arrays with through-array vias forsemiconductor devices (e.g., vertical memory devices, such as NAND Flashmemory devices) that reduce the number and complexity of additionalprocessing acts practiced in conventional methods and structures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic top view of a vertical memory block includingvia regions laterally adjacent to conductive word lines according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed top view of a portion of the vertical memoryblock of FIG. 1, taken from dashed box A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a partial cross-sectional view taken of the vertical memoryblock of FIGS. 1 and 2, taken from section line I-I of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a portion of a vertical memory block withdiverging slots and a via region having a variable width according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a partial top view of a vertical memory block having a viaregion in a memory array region of the vertical memory block accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a partial top view of a vertical memory block including anenlarged via region according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a top view of a stair step region of a vertical memoryblock according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the stair step region ofthe vertical memory array block of FIG. 7, taken from section line II-IIof FIG. 7.

FIGS. 9A through 13 illustrate different views of a vertical memoryblock at progressive stages of forming the vertical memory blockaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 shows a memory device including at least one vertical memoryblock according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description provides specific details, such as materialtypes and processing conditions in order to provide a thoroughdescription of embodiments of the present disclosure. However, a personof ordinary skill in the art will understand that the embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be practiced without employing these specificdetails. Indeed, the embodiments of the present disclosure may bepracticed in conjunction with conventional fabrication techniques andmaterials employed in the industry, which are known to one of ordinaryskill in the art.

The fabrication processes described herein do not describe a completeprocess flow for processing semiconductor structures. The remainder ofthe process flow is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.Accordingly, only the methods and memory device structures necessary tounderstand embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown,by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the presentdisclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described insufficient detail to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art topractice the present disclosure. However, other embodiments may beutilized, and structural, material, and electrical changes may be madewithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. The illustrationspresented herein are not meant to be actual views of any particularsystem, device, structure, or process, but are idealized representationsthat are employed to describe the embodiments of the present disclosure.The drawings presented herein are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Similar structures or components in the various drawings may retain thesame or similar numbering for the convenience of the reader; however,the similarity in numbering does not mean that the structures orcomponents are necessarily identical in size, composition,configuration, or other property.

As used herein, the term “substantially” in reference to a givenparameter, property, or condition means and includes to a degree thatone skilled in the art would understand that the given parameter,property, or condition is met with a small degree of variance, such aswithin acceptable manufacturing tolerances. For example, a parameterthat is substantially met may be at least about 90% met, at least about95% met, or even at least about 99% met.

As used herein, any relational term, such as “first,” “second,” “over,”“top,” “bottom,” “underlying,” etc., is used for clarity and conveniencein understanding the disclosure and accompanying drawings and does notconnote or depend on any specific preference, orientation, or order,except where the context clearly indicates otherwise.

As used herein, the term “forming” means and includes any method ofcreating, building, or depositing a material. For example, forming maybe accomplished by atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapordeposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), sputtering,co-sputtering, spin-coating, diffusing, depositing, growing, or anyother technique known in the art of semiconductor fabrication. Dependingon the specific material to be formed, the technique for forming thematerial may be selected by a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include memory devices including avertical memory block that has one or more conductive vias extendingthrough alternating dielectric materials in a via region thereof. Thevertical memory block may include a three-dimensional (3D) array ofMONOS-type memory cells having conductive access lines (e.g., metal wordlines) extending through the 3D array adjacent to slots formedvertically through the 3D array. The slots may be separated from oneanother by a first distance in a memory array region of the verticalmemory block. The slots may be separated by a second, greater distancein a via region of the vertical memory block, in which the one or moreconductive vias are located and vertically extend. The via region may belocated laterally adjacent to a stair step structure of the verticalmemory block, longitudinally adjacent to the stair step structure, or inthe memory array region of the vertical memory block.

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a vertical memory block 100 (also simply“memory block 100”) of a memory device (e.g., a semiconductor memorydevice) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Portionsof the vertical memory block 100 depicted in FIG. 1 do not show allfeatures, so that underlying structures and elements can be seen moreclearly. FIG. 2 shows a detailed top view of a portion of the verticalmemory block 100 of FIG. 1, taken from dashed box A of FIG. 1. FIG. 3shows a partial cross-sectional view taken of the vertical memory block100 of FIGS. 1 and 2, taken from section line I-I of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, the vertical memory block 100 may be elongated in alongitudinal direction y, may have a width in a lateral direction x, andmay also have a height in a vertical direction in and out of the pagefrom the perspective of FIG. 1. By way of example and not limitation,the width of the vertical memory block 100 in the lateral direction xmay be between about 3 μm and about 5 μm. In some embodiments, the widthof the vertical memory block 100 in the lateral direction x may be about3.4 μm. A memory array region 102 may be generally centrally located inthe vertical memory block in the longitudinal direction y. The verticalmemory block 100 may include a stair step region 104 at one or bothlongitudinal ends of the vertical memory block 100. As shown in FIG. 1,a via region 106 may be located longitudinally between the array region102 and each of the stair step regions 104.

FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed view, marked by dashed box A in FIG. 1, ofa portion of the memory array region 102 and the via region 106 of thevertical memory block 100 of FIG. 1. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in thememory array region 102, an array of memory cell pillars 108 may eachextend vertically through the vertical memory block 100. Each of thememory cell pillars 108 may include a central region 110 of asemiconductor material, such as a polysilicon or silicon-germaniummaterial, at least partially surrounded by a charge trapping material112, such as an oxide-nitride-oxide (“ONO”) material. Slots 114 (shownin FIG. 1 as solid lines), filled with a dielectric material (e.g., asilicon oxide material), may extend through the memory array region 102proximate to and between adjacent memory cell pillars 108.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the slots 114 may be separated from eachother by a first distance D₁ in the memory array region 102. In someembodiments, the first distance D₁ may be between about 400 nm and about1000 nm. As shown in FIG. 1, in the via region 106, at least some of theslots 114 may be separated from each other by a second distance D₂ thatis greater than the first distance D₁. In some embodiments, the seconddistance D₂ is at least about twice the first distance D₁, such as aboutfour times the first distance D₁. The slots 114 may be provided for theintroduction of an electrically conductive (e.g., metal) material to becoupled to (e.g., into contact with) the memory cell pillars 108throughout the memory array region 102 to form conductive access lines116, as will be explained below. The conductive access lines 116 areconductive word lines 116 in the embodiments shown herein, although thepresent disclosure is not so limited. As shown by dashed lines in FIGS.1 and 2, the conductive word lines 116 may extend along the slots 114and be coupled to the memory cell pillars 108. In some embodiments, theconductive word lines 116 may include a metal, such as titanium,tantalum, tantalum nitride, tungsten, or tungsten nitride. Theconductive word lines 116 and memory cell pillars 108 may form an arrayof so-called “MONOS” (metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor) memorycells. In some embodiments, the memory cells may be so-called “TANOS”(tantalum nitride-aluminum oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor) or“BETANOS” (band/barrier engineered TANOS) memory cells, which aresubsets of the general category of MONOS memory cells.

Where the slots 114 are sufficiently distant from each other, such asthe slots 114 in the via region 106 separated by the second distance D₂,the conductive word lines 116 may have a width from the slots 114 of atleast a third distance D₃. On the other hand, where the slots 114 aresufficiently close to one another, such as the slots 114 in the memoryarray region 102 separated by the first distance D₁ that is about twicethe third distance D₃ or less, the conductive material may form aconductive word line 116 having a width greater than the third distanceD₃ (e.g., a width of the first distance D₁).

In the via region 106, adjacent conductive word lines 116 may beseparated by dielectric stacks 118 of at least two different alternatingdielectric materials (e.g., alternating oxide and nitride materials).Conductive vias 120 may extend through the vertical memory block 100within the dielectric stacks 118. Since the conductive vias 120 extendthrough the vertical memory block 100, the conductive vias 120 are alsoreferred to as “through-array vias” or “TAVs.” Thus, the slots 114 beingseparated by the second distance D₂ in the via region 106 provides spacefor the conductive vias 120 to be positioned through the vertical memoryblock 100, without having to use space beyond the footprint of thevertical memory block 100.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the stair step region 104 may include one ormore stair step structures 122 for electrically contacting and accessingdifferent overlapping conductive word lines 116. The stair stepstructures 122 may include contact regions 124 (e.g., “stairs”) (forclarity, labeled at the top portion of FIG. 1, but also present in thebottom portion of FIG. 1) arranged like a staircase. Word line contacts126 (for clarity, shown and labeled at the bottom portion of FIG. 1, butalso present in the top portion of the vertical memory block shown inFIG. 1) may physically and electrically contact the contact regions 124of the stair step structures 122 to provide electrical access to theconductive word lines 116.

In some embodiments, electrical connections 128 may connect the wordline contacts 126 to respective conductive vias 120, as shown near thebottom of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the electrical connections 128may connect the conductive vias 120 to other portions of one or more ofthe conductive word lines 116, as shown near the top of FIG. 1. In someembodiments, the conductive vias 120 may be electrically connected toother features or elements within the vertical memory block 100 orexternal to the vertical memory block 100.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates adjacent stair step structures 122 that areseparated by dielectric stacks 118 of at least two different alternatingdielectric materials in the via region 106, the present disclosure isnot so limited. For example, rather than splitting a single conductiveword line 116 into two adjacent stair step structures 122, two or moreadjacent conductive word lines 116 may be merged into a single stairstep structure 122. Thus, the present disclosure includes variousembodiments of vertical memory blocks with split and merged word lines116 in different regions of the vertical memory blocks, depending uponthe arrangement and proximity of the slots 114.

Referring to FIG. 2, dielectric support pillars 130 (shown as dashedsquares) may, optionally, be located to support dielectric materials(e.g., oxide materials) in the vertical memory block 100 duringfabrication. The memory cell pillars 108 may support the dielectricmaterials in the memory array region 102 during fabrication. However, inportions of the vertical memory block 100 that may lack memory cellpillars 108, such as in the via region 106 or in the stair step region104, the dielectric support pillars 130 may be used to support thedielectric materials during fabrication of the vertical memory block100. The dielectric support pillars 130 may include a dielectricmaterial, such as an oxide material (e.g., silicon dioxide).

FIG. 3 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of the vertical memoryblock 100, taken from section line I-I of FIG. 2. In the memory arrayregion 102, the memory cell pillars 108 (each including the centralregion 110 of a semiconductor material at least partially surrounded bythe charge trapping material 112) and the slots 114 may verticallyextend through a stack of alternating conductive word lines 116 andfirst dielectric materials 132. An individual memory cell (e.g., a MONOSmemory cell) may be formed at each junction between the respectiveconductive word lines 116 and memory cell pillars 108. FIG. 3illustrates five overlying conductive word lines 116 and five overlyingfirst dielectric materials 132 between the conductive word lines 116.Thus, the vertical memory block 100 shown in FIG. 3 has five tiers.However, the present disclosure is not limited to vertical memory blocks100 with five tiers. Rather, vertical memory blocks according to thepresent disclosure may have any number of tiers, such as at least 16,32, 36, or 72 tiers, by way of non-limiting examples.

In the via region 106, conductive vias 120 (only one shown in FIG. 3)vertically extend through the dielectric stack 118. The dielectric stack118 may include alternating first dielectric materials 132 and seconddielectric materials 134. By way of example and not limitation, thefirst dielectric materials 132 may include an oxide (e.g., silicondioxide) material, and the second dielectric materials 134 may include anitride (e.g., silicon nitride) material. To form the conductive wordlines 116, a portion of the second dielectric material 134 along theslots 114 may be selectively removed, while the first dielectricmaterial 132 remains. A conductive material may then be formed toreplace the second dielectric material 134 that was removed. Both thefirst and second dielectric materials 132, 134 may be present in thedielectric stack 118 because the slots 114 are sufficiently far awayfrom each other in the via region 106 that the second dielectricmaterial 134 is not removed in the dielectric stack 118. Thus, the firstand second dielectric materials 132, 134 remain and form the dielectricstack 118, through which the conductive vias 120 may be formed toelectrically isolate the conductive vias 120 from the conductive wordlines 116. The conductive vias 120 may be electrically coupled tosub-array circuitry 136, such as a driver circuit, in or on a substrate138. For example, at least one of the conductive vias 120 mayoperatively couple the sub-array circuitry 136 to the vertical memoryblock 100.

Vertical memory blocks 100 having the features and configurationsdescribed in the present disclosure may enable dense wiring with no exitchannel for wires from a group of sub-blocks.

Although the present disclosure describes, by way of example, verticalmemory blocks including arrays of MONOS memory cells, the presentdisclosure is not so limited. For example, the present disclosure may beapplicable to any vertical memory block or device that is fabricated byforming memory cell materials prior to forming associated conductivematerials (e.g., word lines, gate materials) coupled to the memory cellmaterials, such as through slots formed according to this disclosure.For example, the present disclosure also applies to so-called “floatinggate” memory cells including a metal control gate as a charge trappingmaterial 112.

Accordingly, vertical memory blocks are disclosed including a memorycell region and at least one via region. The memory cell region includesan array of memory cell pillars extending vertically through thevertical memory block. The at least one via region includes a dielectricstack of alternating dielectric materials and at least one conductivevia extending through the dielectric stack.

Additionally, semiconductor devices including a vertical memory blockare disclosed. The semiconductor devices include at least one drivercircuit on or in a substrate and at least one vertical memory blockhaving a longitudinal length and a lateral width on the substrate andoperatively coupled to the at least one driver circuit. The at least onevertical memory block includes a three-dimensional array of memorycells, slots extending vertically through the at least one memory blocklaterally between adjacent memory cells of the three-dimensional array,and conductive access lines extending along and adjacent to the slots.The slots are separated by a first lateral distance in a first portionof the vertical memory block along the three-dimensional array of memorycells, and by a second, greater lateral distance in a second portion ofthe at least one vertical memory block adjacent to the three-dimensionalarray of memory cells.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, rectangular (when viewed from the topas in FIGS. 1 and 2) dielectric stacks 118 may be formed by routing theslots 114 from the first distance D₁ apart from each other to the seconddistance D₂ apart from each other in a step-wise fashion (i.e., byforming the slots 114 with 90 degree angles). However, the presentdisclosure is not so limited.

As shown in FIG. 4, in some embodiments, a vertical memory block 200 mayinclude slots 214 that gradually diverge from each other at an acuteangle. Such diverging slots 214 may result in conductive word lines 216and dielectric stacks 218 that are not rectangular. Rather, thedielectric stacks 218 between adjacent conductive word lines 216 (oradjacent portions of a single conductive word line 216) may have a shapethat includes a narrow end region 219 corresponding to the adjacentdiverging slots 214.

Referring to FIG. 5, in some embodiments, a vertical memory block 300may include a dielectric stack 318 through which conductive vias 320extend that is positioned in a memory array region 302 of the verticalmemory block 300 rather than in a separate via region. For example, anarea 340 of the memory array region 302 may be left free of slots 314,such that the dielectric stack 318 is between conductive word lines 316along the slots 314 within the memory array region 302.

Additionally or alternatively, one or more dielectric stacks 318 andassociated conductive vias 320 may be positioned in a stair step region304 of the vertical memory array 300, such as adjacent to stair stepstructures 322.

Accordingly, the dielectric stack 318 and associated conductive vias 320may be located at any desired location (depending on, e.g., a locationof sub-array circuitry to which the conductive vias 320 are to beconnected) in the vertical memory block 300. To locate the dielectricstack 318 and associated conductive vias 320 in a desired location, asufficiently large space between adjacent slots 314 is provided at thedesired location, such that adjacent conductive word lines 316 (oradjacent portions of a single conductive word line 316) do not extendall the way across the space.

Referring to FIG. 6, a vertical memory block 400 may include arelatively large (compared to the embodiments described above)dielectric stack 418 in a via region 406 adjacent to a stair step region404. A relatively wider (compared to the embodiments described above)memory array region 402 in the lateral direction x may be formed toprovide additional lateral space for the dielectric stack 418 andassociated conductive vias 420 in the via region 406. The additionallateral space for the dielectric stack 418 may be utilized by spacingthe conductive vias 420 farther apart, by forming additional conductivevias 420 therein, or both.

The width of the memory array region 402 may be increased withoutreducing a density of memory cells by routing slots 414A, 414B to fillthe extra width. By way of example and not limitation, the slots 414A,414B may be routed in an interlocking-J pattern. Thus, first slots 414Afor forming first conductive word lines 416A associated with a firststair step region 404 (e.g., at the bottom of the memory array block 400depicted in FIG. 6) may extend away from the first stair step region 404in a longitudinal direction y, laterally across a portion of the memoryarray block 400, and longitudinally back towards the first stair stepregion 404. Complementary, second slots 414B for forming conductive wordlines 416B associated with another stair step region 404 (not shown inFIG. 6, but in a direction toward the top of the memory array block 400depicted in FIG. 6) may extend away from the associated stair stepregion 404 in a longitudinal direction y, laterally across a portion ofthe memory array block 400, and longitudinally back towards the secondstair step region 404. Thus, the width of the memory array region 402and, consequently, of the vertical memory block 400, may be enlargedwhile substantially filling the memory array region 402 with slots 414A,414B and corresponding conductive word lines 416A, 416B, to maintain adensity of memory cells coupled to the word lines 416A, 416B within thememory array region 402.

Embodiments including slots 414A, 414B arranged in an interlocking-Jpattern may enable each word line contact to connect to two or moreconductive word lines 416A, 416B, such that the stair step region 404may exhibit up to about four times the pitch between the slots 414A,414B. The extra space may be used for a large array region 406 (as shownin FIG. 6) or for multiple dielectric stacks 418 positioned throughoutthe stair step region 404.

FIG. 7 shows a top view of a stair step region of a vertical memoryblock 500 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 8shows a partial cross-sectional view of the stair step portion of thevertical memory block 500 of FIG. 7, taken from section line II-II ofFIG. 7. The vertical memory block 500 of FIGS. 7 and 8 includes manyfeatures and elements that are similar to the vertical memory block 100described above with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3. For example, thevertical memory block 500 of FIGS. 7 and 8 includes slots 514,conductive word lines 516, dielectric stacks 518 of alternatingdielectric materials, conductive vias 520 extending through the verticalmemory block 500 within the dielectric stacks 518, and stair stepstructures 522 including contact regions 524 for electrically contactingand accessing different overlapping conductive word lines 516 using wordline contacts 526. The conductive word lines 516 extend along the slots514. As discussed above, the conductive word lines 516 may have a widthfrom the corresponding slots 514 that is the third distance D₃ inlocations where the slots 514 are sufficiently far apart from each other(e.g., more than twice the third distance D₃). In locations where theslots 514 are apart from each other about twice the third distance D₃ orless, the conductive word lines 516 may have a greater width than thethird distance D₃, as the material of the conductive word lines 516formed from adjacent slots 514 contact or are integrally formed witheach other.

However, compared to the vertical memory block 100 of FIGS. 1 through 3,the vertical memory block 500 of FIGS. 7 and 8 includes an additionalslot 514A in the stair step region that splits one area of theconductive word lines 516 into four distinct word line portions 516A,516B, 516C, and 516D that terminate in respective stair step structures522A, 522B, 522C, and 522D. The additional slot 514A may extend from thestair step structures 522A, 522B, 522C, and 522D in a longitudinaldirection y to proximate (e.g., within about twice the third distance D₃or less), but not connecting with, another one of the slots 514. A wordline connection region 550 may remain between the additional slot 514Aand the proximate slot 514. As shown in FIG. 8, multiple conductive wordlines 516 may be vertically positioned over each other in tiers T₁, T₂,T₃, and T₄. Referring to a single conductive word line 516 (i.e., aconductive word line 516 at a particular tier T₁, T₂, T₃, or T₄), thefour word line portions 516A, 516B, 516C, and 516D are physically andelectrically connected to each other at the word line connection region550. Thus, due to the presence of the additional slot 514A and the wordline connection region 550 (FIG. 7), the four word line portions 516A,516B, 516C, and 516D at any one of the tiers T₁, T₂, T₃, or T₄ arephysically and electrically connected fingers of the same conductiveword line 516.

As is known by those of ordinary skill in the art, stair step structuresfor electrical connection to conductive word lines (or word line plates)at the tiers of vertical memory blocks may be formed by utilizing aso-called “stair step mask” and, optionally, one or more so-called “chopmasks.” A stair step mask may be formed over the vertical memory blockwhile leaving one step-width (e.g., a width of one contact region 524measured in the longitudinal direction y) exposed. One or more tiers ofconductive material (e.g., of the conductive word lines 516) exposedthrough the stair step mask may be removed, such as by a first cycle ofanisotropic material removal (e.g., etching). An edge of the stair stepmask may be removed to recess the edge of the stair step mask and toexpose another step-width, in addition to the original exposedstep-width. Another cycle of material removal may be performed to removeanother one or more tiers of conductive material exposed through therecessed stair step mask. The process may be repeated to form a desirednumber of contact regions (e.g., contact regions 524, also referred toas “stairs”).

A chop mask may be used cover one or more particular stair stepstructures or portions thereof (e.g., one or more of the stair stepstructures 522, 522A, 522B, 522C, 522D), while leaving one or more otherstair step structures or portions thereof exposed through the chop mask.The entire exposed one or more other stair step structures or portionsthereof is vertically recessed, such that one or more exposed tiers isremoved. Thus, the one or more stair step structures exposed through thechop mask may be vertically recessed from the one or more stair stepstructures that is covered by the chop mask, such that the one or moreexposed stair step structures defines contact regions (“stairs”) fortiers that are lower than the tiers having contact regions (“stairs”)for the one or more stair step structures covered by the chop mask. Achop mask may be used before or after the stair step mask is used. Chopmasks are used to provide contact to additional tiers of the verticalmemory block while reducing the size of an area that the stair stepstructures cover. In addition, process control of removing materialutilizing a stair step mask to form a stair step structure, as describedabove, may be difficult to maintain for a large number of cycles (e.g.,more than about 12 cycles) and tiers. A single chop mask may be used todouble the number of contact regions (“stairs”) of a stair stepstructure formed using a single stair step mask. By way of anon-limiting example, a stair step mask may be used to form a stair stepstructure of 12 contact regions, for accessing 12 respective tiers. Achop mask may be used to expose and access 12 additional tiersunderlying the 12 tiers formed by the stair step mask alone.

Returning to methods and structures of the present disclosure, as shownin FIG. 8, after (or, alternatively, before) a stair step mask is usedto form an initial stair step structure, a first chop mask may bepositioned to cover the first and fourth stair step structures 522A,522D, while leaving the second and third stair step structures 522B,522C exposed, as indicated under a first bracket 560 in FIG. 8. Onematerial removal cycle may be performed to remove exposed portions ofthe topmost conductive word line 516 in a first tier T₁. The first chopmask may be removed, and a second chop mask may be positioned to coverthe first and second stair step structures 522A, 522B, while leaving thethird and fourth stair step structures 522C, 522D exposed, as indicatedunder a second bracket 562 in FIG. 8. Two material removal cycles may beperformed to remove exposed portions of the conductive word lines 516 ina second tier T₂ and third tier T₃ in the third stair step structure522C, and to remove exposed portions of the two conductive word lines516 in the first tier T₁ and a second tier T₂ of the fourth stair stepstructure 522D. In this manner, a contact region 524 for the first tierT₁ may be defined in the first stair step structure 522A, a contactregion 524 for the second tier T₂ may be defined in the second stairstep structure 522B, a contact region 524 for the third tier T₃ may bedefined in the fourth stair step structure 522D, and a contact region524 for the fourth tier T₄ may be defined in the third stair stepstructure 522C.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, four cycles of materialremoval may be performed in connection with each time a correspondingstair step mask is recessed, such that successively lower “stairs” in asingle stair step structure 522, 522A, 522B, 522C, 522D are four tierslower than a successively higher “stair” in the same stair stepstructure 522, 522A, 522B, 522C, 522D.

In some embodiments, a single material removal cycle may be performed inconnection with each time a corresponding stair step mask is recessed toform “stairs.” In such embodiments, assuming S number of stairs areformed using the stair step mask alone, a first chop mask may be used toremove exposed portions of the same S number of conductive word lines516 from the second and third stair step structures 522B, 522C, and asecond chop mask may be used to remove exposed portions of twice the Snumber of eight conductive word lines 516 from the third and fourthstair step structures 522C, 522D. The embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8is an example of such embodiments, in which the S number of stairsformed using the stair step mask alone is four.

Thus, in embodiments employing the additional slot 514A and including aword line connection region 550, as shown by way of example in FIGS. 7and 8, a single stair step mask and two chop masks may be sufficient toform distinct contact regions 524 for a quantity of tiers up to fourtimes the number of contact regions 524 exposed by the single stair stepmask alone.

FIGS. 9A through 13 illustrate a method of forming a vertical memoryblock, such as the vertical memory block 100 of FIG. 1. FIG. 9A shows atop view of a vertical memory block structure 100A, and FIG. 9B shows across-sectional view of the vertical memory block structure 100A takenfrom section line of FIG. 9A. Referring to FIG. 9B, a stack 178 ofalternating first and second dielectric materials 132, 134 is formedover the substrate 138, which may include the sub-array circuitry 136.The first dielectric material 132 may be, for example, an oxide materialsuch as silicon dioxide. The second dielectric material 134 may be, forexample, a nitride material such as silicon nitride. The memory cellpillars 108 may be formed in the memory array region 102 (FIG. 9A), eachof which may include the central region 110 of a semiconductor materialat least partially surrounded by a charge trapping material 112. By wayof example, the memory cell pillars 108 may be foisted byanisotropically removing portions of the first dielectric material 132and second dielectric material 134 to form holes through the stack 178,after which an oxide, nitride, and oxide material is formed alongsidewalls defining the holes through the stack 178 to form the chargetrapping material 112. A semiconductor material may be limited to fillthe remaining holes to form the central region 110 of the memory cellpillars 108. Optionally, dielectric support pillars 130 (FIG. 2) of adielectric material (e.g., an oxide material, such as silicon dioxide)may additionally be formed in locations lacking memory cell pillars 108,to provide support for the first dielectric materials 132 in thoselocations during subsequent operations.

Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the slots 114 may be formed byanisotropically removing portions of the first dielectric material 132and second dielectric material 134. The slots 114 may be formed to beseparated from adjacent slots 114 by a first distance D₁ in the memoryarray region 102 of the stack 178, and at least some of the slots 114 inthe stair step region 104 and the via region 106 may be separated by asecond distance D₂ greater than the first distance D₁.

FIG. 10A shows a top view of a vertical memory block structure 100Bformed from the vertical memory block structure 100A of FIGS. 9A and 9Bafter additional processing. FIG. 10B shows a cross-sectional view ofthe vertical memory block structure 100B taken from section line IV-IVof FIG. 10A.

Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, portions of the second dielectricmaterial 134 of the stack 178 adjacent to the slots 114 may be removedthrough the slots 114, such as by an isotropic material removal processthat selectively removes the second dielectric material 134 relative tothe first dielectric material 132 and the charge trapping material 112of the memory cell pillars 108. One of ordinary skill in the art isfamiliar with such isotropic removal processes. The material removalprocess may form access line gaps 180 (referred to below as “word linegaps 180”) between the first dielectric materials 132. Based on theamount of time and chemistry used to remove the portions of the seconddielectric material 134 and to form the word line gaps 180, the wordline gaps 180 may have a width from the slots 114 of the third distanceD₃. The third distance D₃ may be about half the first distance D₁between the slots 114 in the array region 102 or more, such that theword line gaps 180 extend from one slot 114 to an adjacent slot 114 inlocations where the slots 114 are separated by the first distance D₁,such as in the memory array region 102. The second distance D₂ may beabout twice the first distance D₁ or more, such that portions of thestack 178 of alternating dielectric materials remains between adjacentslots 114 in locations where the slots 114 are separated by the seconddistance D₂, such as in the stair step region 104 and the via region106, to define the dielectric stacks 118 in those locations.

FIG. 11 shows a cross-sectional view of a vertical memory blockstructure 100C formed from the vertical memory block structure 100B ofFIGS. 10A and 10B after additional processing. Referring to FIG. 11, theword line gaps 180 (FIG. 10B) may be filled with a conductive material(e.g., titanium, tantalum, tantalum nitride, tungsten, or tungstennitride) to form the conductive word lines 116. Any residual conductivematerial within the slots 114 may be removed, and the slots 114 may befilled with a dielectric material (e.g., an oxide material, a nitridematerial).

FIG. 12 shows a cross-sectional view of a vertical memory blockstructure 100D formed from the vertical memory block structure 100C ofFIG. 11 after additional processing. Referring to FIG. 12, conductivevias 120 may be formed to extend through the dielectric stacks 118 ofthe alternating first and second dielectric materials 132, 134 toelectrically contact the sub-array circuitry 136 in or on the substrate138. To form the conductive vias 120, portions of the first and seconddielectric materials 132, 134 in the dielectric stacks 118 may beanisotropically removed to form through holes, which may be at leastpartially filed with a conductive via material (e.g., titanium,tantalum, tantalum nitride, tungsten, or tungsten nitride).

FIG. 13 is a top view of a vertical memory block structure 100E formedfrom the vertical memory block structure 100D of FIG. 12 afteradditional processing. As shown in FIG. 13, ends of the conductive wordlines 116 proximate longitudinal ends of the vertical memory blockstructure 100E may be processed to form the stair step structures 122,defining the contact regions 124 for electrically contacting andaccessing the conductive word lines 116 of different tiers. As generallydescribed above with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, the stair stepstructures 122 may be formed using a stair step mask and, optionally,one or more chop masks, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art.After the stair step structures 122 are formed to define the contactregions 124, the word line contacts 126 may be formed to physically andelectrically contact the respective conductive word lines 116.Electrical connections 128 (FIG. 1) may be formed between the conductivevias 120 and other conductive elements, such as the word line contacts,for example.

Although the formation of the conductive vias 120 has been explained andillustrated as occurring subsequent to the formation of the conductiveword lines 116 and the filling of the slots 114 with a dielectricmaterial, the present disclosure is not so limited. For example, theconductive vias 120 may be formed prior to, during, or after theformation of the conductive word lines 116 and the filling of the slots114 with a dielectric material. In some embodiments, the conductive vias120 may be formed after forming the stair step structures 122, such asduring a same process in which the word line contacts 126 are formed.

The methods described herein enable the formation of through-array vias120 without the need for removing conductive material 116 and otherportions of the vertical memory block 100 in a separate material removalact to form the conductive vias 120. Rather, the methods of the presentdisclosure utilize dielectric materials (e.g., the first and seconddielectric materials 132, 134) that are already present during theformation of the vertical memory block 100 as a location for forming theconductive vias 120. Such methods provide efficient use of the materialsand processes used to form the vertical memory block 120.

Accordingly, the present disclosure includes methods of forming avertical memory block of a semiconductor device. In accordance with suchmethods, a stack of alternating first dielectric materials and seconddielectric materials is formed. Portions of the first dielectricmaterials and second dielectric materials are removed to form slotsextending through the stack. The slots are separated by a first distancein a memory array region of the vertical memory block and by a second,greater distance in a via region of the vertical memory array block.Portions of the second dielectric materials adjacent to the slots areremoved to form access line gaps extending along the slots. Portions ofthe second dielectric material are left in the via region. A conductivematerial is formed within the access line gaps to form conductive accesslines. At least one conductive via is formed to extend through the firstdielectric materials and the second dielectric materials in the viaregion.

The present disclosure also includes devices and systems that includeone or more of the vertical memory blocks 100, 200, 300, 400, 500described above. As shown in FIG. 14, a semiconductor memory device 600may include one or more of the vertical memory blocks 100, 200, 300,400, 500 described above. The semiconductor memory device 600 may alsoinclude additional elements, such as communication circuitry 610,drivers 620, a memory controller 630, an amplifier 640, and a decoder650, for example. In some embodiments, one or more of the additionalelements may be formed under the vertical memory blocks 100, 200, 300,400, 500 and electrically contacted using through-array vias (e.g., theconductive vias 120, 220, 320, 420, 520 described above). Asemiconductor system may include a semiconductor memory device 600 asdescribed herein.

The embodiments of the disclosure described above and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing figures do not limit the scope of the invention,since these embodiments are merely examples of embodiments of thedisclosure. The invention is encompassed by the appended claims andtheir legal equivalents. Any equivalent embodiments lie within the scopeof this disclosure. Indeed, various modifications of the presentdisclosure, in addition to those shown and described herein, such asother combinations and modifications of the elements described, willbecome apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from thedescription. Such embodiments, combinations, and modifications also fallwithin the scope of the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vertical memory block of a semiconductordevice, the vertical memory block comprising: a memory cell regionincluding an array of memory cell pillars extending vertically throughthe vertical memory block; at least one stair step region; at least onevia region at least partially located between the memory cell region andthe at least one stair step region, the at least one via regionincluding a dielectric stack of alternating dielectric materials and atleast one conductive via extending through the dielectric stack; and adielectric material within slots extending through the vertical memoryblock, the slots separated by a first distance in the memory cell regionand by a second, greater distance in each of the at least one stair stepregion and the at least one via region.
 2. The vertical memory block ofclaim 1, wherein the dielectric stack of alternating dielectricmaterials comprises a stack of at least sixteen first dielectricmaterials alternating with at least sixteen second dielectric materials.3. The vertical memory block of claim 1, wherein the at least oneconductive via is operatively connected to sub-array circuitry.
 4. Thevertical memory block of claim 3, wherein the sub-array circuitrycomprises a driver circuit.
 5. The vertical memory block of claim 1,wherein the at least one conductive via comprises conductive viasextending through the dielectric stack.
 6. The vertical memory block ofclaim 1, wherein at least some of the slots extend through the verticalmemory block in an interlocking-J pattern.
 7. The vertical memory blockof claim 1, further comprising conductive access lines along the slotsand respectively coupled to the memory cell pillars of the array.
 8. Thevertical memory block of claim 7, wherein overlapping conductive accesslines are separated from each other by one dielectric material of thealternating dielectric materials.
 9. The vertical memory block of claim7, wherein the at least one stair step region comprises contact regionsof the conductive access lines.
 10. The vertical memory block of claim9, further comprising: at least one additional slot in the at least onestair step region that does not intersect with any other slot of theslots; and a connection region between the at least one additional slotand the another one of the slots electrically connecting four fingers ofa single conductive access line.
 11. The vertical memory block of claim1, wherein the second, greater distance between the slots in each of theat least one stair step region and the at least one via region is abouttwice the distance of the first distance between the slots in the memorycell region.
 12. The vertical memory block of claim 1, wherein: the atleast one stair step region comprises two stair step regions at opposinglongitudinal ends of the vertical memory block; the at least one viaregion comprises two via regions, each of the two via regions being atleast partially located longitudinally between a centrally locatedmemory cell region and a respective stair step region; and each of thetwo stair step regions comprises at least one stair step structurelocated remote from the memory cell region.
 13. A semiconductor devicecomprising: at least one driver circuit on or in a substrate; and atleast one vertical memory block having a longitudinal length and alateral width, the at least one vertical memory block on the substrateand operatively coupled to the at least one driver circuit, the at leastone vertical memory block comprising: a three-dimensional array ofmemory cells; at least one stair step region; at least one via region atleast partially located between the three-dimensional array of memorycells and the at least one stair step region along the longitudinallength of the at least one vertical memory block; slots extendingvertically through the at least one vertical memory block laterallybetween adjacent memory cells of the three-dimensional array; andconductive access lines respectively coupled to the three-dimensionalarray of memory cells, the conductive access lines extending along andadjacent to the slots, wherein the slots are separated from each otherby a first lateral distance in the at least one vertical memory blockalong the three-dimensional array of memory cells and by a second,greater lateral distance in each of the at least one stair step regionand the at least one via region of the at least one vertical memoryblock adjacent to the three-dimensional array of memory cells.
 14. Thesemiconductor device of claim 13, further comprising a dielectric stackof alternating dielectric materials in the at least one via region ofthe at least one vertical memory block and between the slots separatedby the second, greater lateral distance.
 15. The semiconductor device ofclaim 14, further comprising at least one conductive via extendingvertically through the dielectric stack of alternating dielectricmaterials.
 16. The semiconductor device of claim 13, wherein the atleast one driver circuit is positioned under the at least one verticalmemory block.
 17. The semiconductor device of claim 13, wherein theslots are filled with a dielectric material.
 18. The semiconductordevice of claim 13, wherein the dielectric material filling the slotscomprises an oxide material.
 19. The semiconductor device of claim 13,wherein the memory cells comprisemetal-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor (MONOS) type memory cells. 20.The semiconductor device of claim 13, wherein the memory cells comprisecentral pillars of a semiconductor material at least partiallysurrounded by a charge trapping material.
 21. The semiconductor deviceof claim 13, wherein at least some of the slots diverge from each otherfrom the first lateral distance to the second, greater lateral distanceat an acute angle.
 22. A method of forming a vertical memory block of asemiconductor device, the method comprising: forming a stack ofalternating first dielectric materials and second dielectric materials;removing portions of the first dielectric materials and seconddielectric materials to form slots extending through the stack, theslots separated by a first distance in a memory array region of thevertical memory block and separated by a second, greater distance ineach of a stair step region and a via region of the vertical memoryblock, the via region being at least partially located between thememory array region and the stair step region; removing portions of thesecond dielectric materials adjacent to the slots to form access linegaps extending along the slots; forming a conductive material within theaccess line gaps to form conductive access lines; and forming at leastone conductive via extending through the first dielectric materials andthe second dielectric materials in the via region.
 23. The method ofclaim 22, further comprising forming memory cell pillars through thestack of alternating first dielectric materials and second dielectricmaterials, wherein forming a conductive material within the access linegaps comprises coupling the memory cell pillars to the conductive accesslines.
 24. The method of claim 22, further comprising: forming a stairstep structure in the stair step region proximate a longitudinal end ofthe vertical memory block, the stair step structure defining contactregions of the conductive access lines; and forming conductive word linecontacts to electrically connect to the contact regions defined by thestair step structure.
 25. The method of claim 24, further comprisingforming an additional slot in the stair step region of the verticalmemory block, the additional slot terminating at about the firstdistance or less from one of the other slots to leave a connectionregion between the additional slot and the one of the other slots,wherein forming the stair step structure comprises forming four stairstep structures physically and electrically connected to each otherthrough the connection region.